Alterity and conflict: democracy’s hermeneutical task

Main Article Content

Diego Fernando Silva Prada

Abstract

This work is an attempt to define democracy from a broad philosophical perspective with two dimensions. The first is the ontological condition in which the acceptance of others as different – alterity/otherness – takes place. The second is the acceptance of conflict as an essential component of socio-political phenomena, which must be channeled or regulated. The ways in which the conflictive nature of humans can be regulated non-violently are what we have called “democracy”. And this kind of reflection should be set – epistemologically speaking – in a hermeneutical idea of truth and regulation of social life, where the normative ideal is the negation of fundamentalisms and totalitarianisms.

Keywords:
Democracy, hermeneutics, social responsibility, alterity, politics, conflict, Levinas.


Article Details

Section

Artículos de Investigación

Author Biography

Diego Fernando Silva Prada, Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios

Candidato a doctor en Ciencias Sociales de la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO-Argentina). Investigador de tiempo completo del Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones Humanas y Sociales (CEIHS)-Universidad Minuto de Dios.

How to Cite

Silva Prada, D. F. (2013). Alterity and conflict: democracy’s hermeneutical task. Polisemia, 7(11), 50-61. https://doi.org/10.26620/uniminuto.polisemia.7.11.2011.50-61